Stepped House
Stepped House is a full refurbishment, rear extension and loft conversion to a post-war, red brick house in North London. A new garden studio mirrors the proposed extension and provides additional space to the family home.
Location: North-East London
Typology: Residential
Client: Private
Size: 145 sqm (three bedroom house)
Scope: Architectural services, RIBA 1-5
Location: North-East London
Typology: Residential
Client: Private
Size: 145 sqm (three bedroom house)
Scope: Architectural services, RIBA 1-5
A series of options were explored for the rear extension, taking a simple extrusion as a starting point. The proposed massing wraps around a side elevation to form a new entrance to the house, bringing residents into a lobby at the centre of the house. Massing steps back at the garden elevation to form a terrace accessed off the dining room, with this approach being mirrored in the garden studio to provide a quiet terrace at the end of the garden.
Physical models — always a part of our design process — were used to test massing options and the relationship to the proposed garden studio.
Externally, the project uses materials familiar to the immediate vicinity: a post-war ‘rustic’-style brick for the ground floor and clay tiles for a loft dormer. New materials reference the old, yet are noticeably different in arrangement to enable their reading as contemporary elements.
Brick was sourced to match the existing house, but arranged in a stack bond, with soldier courses for parapets and vertical headers used to express openings.
Brick was sourced to match the existing house, but arranged in a stack bond, with soldier courses for parapets and vertical headers used to express openings.
